A recent study of diet supplements conducted by the Harvard Medical School in Boston found that the amount of caffeine in the supplements varied widely and that the product labels were often inaccurate or contained no caffeine information at all. High levels of caffeine can can be dangerous for certain individuals, due to side effects such as tremors and anxiety. The study, published by JAMA Internal Medicine, tested 31 dietary supplements known to contain caffeine or herbal ingredients that naturally contain caffeine. Researchers found that of the products tested, five had labels with inaccurate caffeine information and another six did not have caffeine on their labels, but contained very high levels of caffeine; averaging between 210 and 310 milligrams per serving. To compare, an eight-ounce serving of coffee contains approximately 100 milligrams of caffeine. The study concluded that the levels of caffeine in the supplements would not be an issue on their own, but may cause problems for people who combine the diet products with energy drinks, coffee and other high-caffeine foods and beverages. More troublesome was the wide-spread inaccuracy of the labels, which make it nearly impossible even for users who read the product information to know what they are consuming. The researchers added that current laws regulating product labeling aren’t strong enough and that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must do a better job enforcing what labeling regulations exist.

Researchers in Sweden have recently concluded that the risk of of prediabetes, a blood sugar elevation that often precedes diabetes in adults, can be lowered by the consumption of whole grains. The study followed 5,477 Stockholm residents without diabetes, who kept food diaries of the amounts of whole and refined grains they ate. Blood glucose levels of participants were recorded and then followed up on ten years later. The researchers discovered that subjects who consumed approximately two or more ounces of whole grains per day were found to be 27% less likely to become prediabetic. However, these results may not help Americans, because of the difficulty in obtaining whole grain foods in the U.S. American food manufacturers can label a food that contains eight grams per serving as ‘whole grain’; Sweden requires a food product to contain least half whole grains to receive the designation. Whole grains span the spectrum of grain, from brown rice to whole wheat, but to be whole, the entire kernel is used, including the grain hull. Refined grains, where the hull and other parts of the grain are removed are far more common in the U.S. The American Diabetes Association now estimates that one in four Americans are prediabetic and that nearly a quarter of people with the condition will develop full-blown diabetes. Further, fewer than three percent of Americans get the recommended 48 grams per day of whole grains. Because refined grains contain more calories and carbohydrates, which are risk factors for diabetes, researchers concluded that Americans should simply aim to consume less grain in general.

New medical research, recently published in the journal Circulation, finds that heart attack victims given compression-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation were less likely to die in following years than people given standard mouth-to-mouth CPR. This finding supports an American Heart Association recommendation that the simpler form of CPR is more appropriate for bystanders often intimidated by the prospect of combining chest compressions with rescue breathing. Over 383,000 people in the U.S. suffer cardiac arrests every year; only about 10 percent survive. The study, authored by researchers in Seattle, France and Sweden, tracked more than 3,200 adults who suffered heart attacks and were administered either standard or compression-only CPR. Mortality in the compression-only group was 9% lower than in the standard CPR group, with benefits persisting for up to five years after the event. However, the researchers added that their recommendations don't apply to CPR performed by medical personnel or people who are proficient in rescue breathing. They also apply only to adult victims with heart problems, where cardiac arrest was caused by reasons other than trauma, suffocating or drowning. It is still recommended that pediatric victims suffering cardiac arrest be administered rescue breathing.

A new study conducted by the Food and Brand Laboratory at Cornell University suggests that substituting cheese or vegetables for potato chips, might help reduce the amount of calories children eat at snack time. The findings are of interest to a nation combating a recognized childhood obesity epidemic and looking for ways to help kids slim down. The study of over 180 children ages nine to twelve, put the kids in a room to watch TV and eat a snack. 45 of the children were given potato chips, 36 were offered cheese, 59 were given raw vegetables and 43 were given cheese and vegetables. There were no restrictions on the quantity of the snacks; the kids were allowed to eat until they felt full. After 45 minutes, the researchers measured the amount of calories eaten. Unsurprisingly, the children in the chip group consumed the most, averaging 620 calories, or approximately 40% of the daily amount of calories recommended for a moderately active eight-year-old boy. The children in the other groups ate an average of 200 calories of cheese, 60 calories of vegetables and 170 calories of the combination cheese-and-vegetables snack. Kids also reported feeling full after eating less of the cheese and vegetables than the potato chips. Experts disagree on the findings however, pointing out that children will eat more of a snack they prefer - like potato chips, than one they don't - like raw vegetables. They also acknowledge that it is not always feasible, especially in lower income families where obesity has hit hardest, to provide healthy alternatives to cheaper processed foods.